Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Fisnics Pastel.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of New Guinea Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Fisnics Pastelxe2x80x99.
The new Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany and Galder, Gran Canaria, Spain. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new medium-sized Impatiens cultivars with an early to medium flowering response and large rounded flowers with attractive coloration.
The new Impatiens originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor during the spring of 1999 of a proprietary seedling selection of Impatiens hawkeri identified as code number K98-4069-25, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary seedling selection of Impatiens hawkeri identified as code number K98-4069-21, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Fisnics Pastel was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Galder, Gran Canaria, Spain in April, 2000.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in Galder, Gran Canaria, Spain, since July, 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Fisnics Pastelxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Fisnics Pastelxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Impatiens cultivar:
1. Outwardly spreading and uniformly mounded plant habit; medium to tall growth habit.
2. Freely branching and freely flowering habit.
3. Deep green-colored foliage.
4. Large, nearly round, white-colored flowers with a light red purple hue on the banner petals and near the petal margins with a small red purple-colored eye zone; flowers are positioned above and beyond the foliage.
Plants of the new Impatiens can be compared to plants of the female parent selection. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the female parent selection in the following characteristics:
1. Flowers of plants of the new Impatiens were more rounded than flowers of plants of the female parent selection.
2. Flowers of plants of the new Impatiens were lighter in color than flowers of plants of the female parent selection.
Plants of the new Impatiens can be compared to plants of the male parent selection. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the male parent selection primarily in plant size as plants of the new Impatiens were larger than plants of the male parent selection.
Plants of the new Impatiens can also be compared to plants of the cultivar Samoa, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,422. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the cultivar Samoa in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens were taller than plants of the cultivar Samoa.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens had lighter green-colored leaves than plants of the cultivar Samoa.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens had larger flowers than plants of the cultivar Samoa.
4. Flowers of plants of the new Impatiens and the cultivar Samoa differed slightly in flower coloration.